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Special counsel Jack Smith has asked the judge overseeing former President Trump's classified documents case to impose a protective order over the evidence in the case. Special counsel Jack Smith on Friday asked the judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's classified documents case to impose a protective order over the evidence in the case. The protective order is meant to ensure that neither Trump nor codefendant Walt Nauta, his presidential valet, disclose sensitive information obtained during the discovery process, where prosecutors will show the defense what evidence it has amassed during their investigation. MORE: Trump rejected his lawyer's effort to propose settlement in classified documents case: Sources Trump was charged on Tuesday with 37 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information ranging from U.S. nuclear secrets to the n...

Following a court order, the DOJ has released a slightly less-redacted version of the affidavit used to justify last summer's search of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. The Justice Department on Wednesday release d a slightly less -redacted version of the affidavit used to justify last summer's search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, hours after a federal judge order ed the department to do so. The new version included no meaningful revelations about the DOJ's probe, but demonstrated the breadth of evidence investigators had already accumulated prior to the raid. FBI agents raided the Florida property last August in search of classified documents that authorities say Trump refused to return after leaving the White House. Last month the former president pleaded not guilty to a 37-count indictment that included 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information. MORE: Justice Department makes redacted Mar-a-Lago affidavit pub...

Attorney Kenneth Chesebro, one of the 19 defendants in the Georgia election interference case, has asked a judge to unseal a host of underlying records in the case. Attorney Kenneth Chesebro, one of the 19 defendants in the Fulton County election interference case, filed a motion Monday asking a judge to unseal a host of underlying records in the case -- including the special grand jury report that recommended charges, the transcripts of testimony heard by the panel, and any recordings of the proceedings. Chesebro is set to stand trial in the case on Oct. 23, after a judge granted his request for a speedy trial. He, Smith and former President Donald Trump were charged along with 16 others earlier this month in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. The former president says his actions were not illegal and that the investigation is politically motivated. MORE: Willis seeks to have al...

A judge has awarded a default judgment to Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea "Shaye" Moss as part of their civil defamation suit against Rudy Giuliani. A federal judge on Wednesday awarded a default judgment to a pair of Georgia election workers as part of their civil defamation suit against former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who also faces separate criminal charges in Fulton County. The mother-daughter tandem of Ruby Freeman and Wandrea "Shaye" Moss are suing the former New York City mayor for defamation over erroneous remarks he made accusing the pair of fraudulently manipulating ballots on Election Day 2020 in Georgia. In the days after the election, Freeman and Moss became the subjects of a Trump-backed conspiracy theory that was later found to be "false and unsubstantiated," according to an investigation by the Georgia Elections Board. Giuliani, in an appearance before a committee of the Georgia state legislature, told lawmakers that...

A federal judge ruled that Texas had no standing to install the border barriers. Texas was granted a stay. The Justice Department is likely to succeed on its claim that floating barriers Texas deployed in the Rio Grande to prevent migrants from crossing were illegally installed, a federal judge in Austin ruled -- adding the arguments used to justify the buoys are “unconvincing” and, in at least one instance, unconstitutional. Judge David Alan Ezra ordered the Lonestar state to move its buoys on Wednesday and said the Justice Department is likely to prevail on its claim that Texas lacked proper authority to install them in the first place and that the state had employed "unconvincing" and conflicting rationale in doing so. The ruling grants a preliminary injunction to the Department of Justice, which sued Texas for placing the buoys in the Rio Grande in July. "Governor Abbott announced that he was not 'asking for permission' for Operation Lone Star, the anti-immi...

Former President Trump has filed a motion seeking to have the judge overseeing his federal 2020 election interference case be recused and disqualified. Former President Donald Trump on Monday made his first formal push to have the judge overseeing his federal 2020 election interference case be recused and disqualified , according to a filing from his attorneys. The recusal motion filed by Trump's attorneys cites comments from D.C. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in past cases she oversaw for individuals charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, which they argue shows she "suggested that President Trump should be prosecuted and imprisoned." "Such statements, made before this case began and without due process, are inherently disqualifying," Trump's attorneys said in the motion. "Although Judge Chutkan may genuinely intend to give President Trump a fair trial -- and may believe that she can do so -- her public statements unavoida...

Judge Pauline Newman, a 96-year-old federal appeals judge, was banned from being able to hear court cases for a year due to concerns she is unfit to perform her duties. As an age debate rages around members of Congress, a 96-year- old federal judge has just been barred from hearing cases for at least a year. Judge Pauline Newman, who has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for 39 years, was suspended Wednesday after Chief Circuit Judge Kimberly Moore determined she was no longer able to perform her job, according to court documents. "Unfortunately, earlier this year mounting evidence raised increasing doubts about whether Judge [Pauline] Newman is still fit to perform the duties of her office. When such evidence is brought to the attention of the Chief Judge and the Judicial Council, there is an obligation to investigate the matter," the Judicial Council of the Federal Circuit wrote in a court order Wednesday. "The evidence establishes reasonable...

Former President Trump's legal team has asked the judge overseeing his federal election interference case for a two-month extension for the filing of pretrial motions. Former President Donald Trump's legal team has asked the judge overseeing his federal election interference case for a two-month extension for the filing of pretrial motions. The current deadline for pretrial motions in the case is Oct. 9, with the case currently scheduled to go to trial on March 4. Trump's legal team argues that this is the "first time a President has been charged for conduct committed while in office, and the first time the leading presidential candidate has been charged in the middle of a campaign by his opponent's administration." MORE: Trump opposes special counsel's request for gag order in Jan. 6 case As a result, they argue, "defense counsel must research and address issues of extreme constitutional import that require careful analysis and briefing." Tr...

A request from prosecutors for a gag order aimed at reining in Donald Trump’s rhetoric is putting the judge overseeing his federal election interference case in a tricky position WASHINGTON -- A proposed gag order aimed at reining in Donald Trump's incendiary rhetoric puts the judge overseeing his federal election interference case in a tricky position: She must balance the need to protect the integrity of the legal proceedings against the First Amendment rights of a presidential candidate to defend himself in public. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan will hear arguments Monday in Washington over whether Trump has gone too far with remarks such as calling prosecutors a “team of thugs” and one possible witness “a gutless pig.” It is the biggest test yet for Chutkan, underscoring the unprecedented complexities of prosecuting the former Republican president as the judge vows not to let political considerations guide her decisions. Ending the stream of Trump's harsh language would...